Halloween Candy: Your Dental Survival Guide

Halloween Candy: Your Dental Survival Guide

Halloween is creeping up just
around the corner, and you better believe that the streets will soon
be filled with the sound of ghouls and goblins seeking their yearly
offering of candy. Trick Or Treating is a wonderful childhood
experience provided that you make sure that the scariest monster of
all doesn’t get your children. We’re talking, of course, about
tooth decay from consuming so much sugar. While there’s nothing
wrong with this yearly indulgence you should plan to be extra
vigilant about their oral hygiene habits to ensure they survive with
their enamel intact. To prepare you should know some of the worst
culprits of the Halloween haul to watch out for:

Chocolate

Chocolate
is actually one of the least worrying candies your children will
receive during this time. This substance just happily melts right off
their teeth after they finish eating it, and a simple brushing will
ensure that the remnants are washed away. Just make sure that your
children brush and floss normally and they should be fine.

Stick
and Gummy Candies

Gummy
candies are popular in all their forms, as are things like caramels,
Bit’O’Honeys, and Now n’ Laters. All of these candies tend to
cling to your child’s teeth and may require a little more vigilance
to make sure that the worst of it has been cleaned away from their
teeth. Flossing may be wise too to get the bits out from between
their teeth.

Hard
Candy

All
things considered hard candies aren’t worse for your children’s
teeth than chocolate, less so even. The risk with these comes from
children trying to chew them rather than melting them int heir
mouths. Biting the candy can result in cracked or chipped teeth, so
as long as they avoid that simple brushing will take care of it.

Sour
Candy

Sour
candies have all the bad things that you should worry about during
this season, especially the gummy ones. Sour candies are coated with
citric acid to give them that powerful sour taste, and that stuff
will eat straight through your enamel. Oddly they seem to really
like putting this sour powder on gummy candies to make sure it will
stick. We promise this isn’t a dental conspiracy, just brush your
kids teeth if they eat these so they still have enamel.

Popcorn
Balls

These
fun Halloween candies seem to be nearly extinct, but they were a
great option for a combination of relatively healthy and sweet. The
worst part about them is really the kernels getting stuck in your
teeth, nothing a little flossing won’t fix.

Now
that you’ve met some of the worst culprits in the Halloween candy
bin it’s time to schedule an appointment with your dentist at
Smiling Kids Indianapolis. With the holiday just around the corner
there’s no better time to stop in in Noblesville, IN and see Dr.
Swati Singh to ensure your children know how to best take care of
their teeth during this sugar packed holiday. Call today!